Storage space always seems to be in demand. It has been suggested to use for storage the space between exposed rafters in basements or elsewhere. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,446,660; 4,699,437; and 5,039,902. Such prior art devices have not become widely accepted, as they suffer from one or more drawbacks. They are inconvenient to install, requiring installing of screws or nails into the sub floor deep between the rafters, or into the side walls of the rafters. As the spacing between rafters is typically 16 inches (on centers) the opening is typically about 141/2 inches leaving little room to conveniently set a nail and swing a hammer on its head, nor is the room sufficient to place most conventional electric drill for drilling a screw pilot hole. While specialized tools such as a right angle drive for an electric drill are available, these are often not conveniently available to the average homeowner. Some prior art units require careful measuring to make sure the parts, when installed, will align with one another. Many times, ordinary house-holders find such measuring difficult, resulting in the need to remove and reinstall some parts to the rafters when it is discovered that the measurements were made incorrectly.
The prior art storage inter-rafter units besides being difficult to install are often difficult and expensive to make, requiring specialized castings or machined parts or if made of inexpensive materials (as in the case of the device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,660--cardboard) have a limited weight capacity and limited useful life and are subject to mold, vermin and dampness damage.
Thus there exists a need for an overhead between rafter storage unit which is economical to make, easy to install by an unskilled person and yet yields a storage unit of high weight capacity, long life, and is not itself susceptible to vermin infestation or rot.